Our cookbook of the week is Plant Magic by Vancouver-based dietitian Desiree Nielsen. Jump to the recipes: cumin lime black bean burgers , herby potato salad with grainy mustard vinaigrette and grilled pineapple with toasted coconut . There’s so much noise about diet and nutrition.
Social media only seems to make it noisier, whether it’s “ Oatzempic ” — oats blended with lime juice, for the uninitiated — or the supposedly immune-boosting “ swamp soup .” Amid the cacophony, the ethos of Vancouver-based author and registered dietitian Desiree Nielsen ‘s fourth book, Plant Magic, is refreshingly reasonable. “My opinions are not very viral, so you feel like you’re whispering into a void.
It’s like, ‘Hey guys, it’s OK. Just eat some kale, and everything will be fine. Enjoy potato chips, too,'” says Nielsen, laughing.
According to an April 2024 study by MyFitnessPal and Dublin City University , only 2.1 per cent of TikTok diet and nutrition trends are accurate. Yet, 57 per cent of millennials and Gen Zers said they’re influenced by or frequently adopt trends they see on the platform, and 67 per cent of them adopt at least one trend a few times a week.
Nielsen underscores that there’s “infinite potential” in the internet, especially for people without access to nutrition and general medical care. The challenge is there’s so much information that no one is fact-checking it. Algorithms determine how content is ranked.
Whether we engage with it o.
